Smile
by animeninjaNIPPON
Summary: Ren remembers someone that made him laugh...oddly enough. [yaoi alert, not a happy story]
1. Meeting

By animeninjaNIPPON

This is my second SK fic, but this one might not be as liked as much. Yes, this is a Ren/Chocolove, which I know isn't as popular as Ren/HoroHoro, but it does exist. Well, it does now if it didn't before (and I'm sure it did)… anyhoo, if you don't agree with this pairing, don't read. And if you think I'm insane for writing this…well, I **did** write The Slash Pairing From Hell and Bizarre Love Triangle of DOOM, and **those** have stranger pairings. I kinda built my fame on oddity.

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Shaman King. If I did, I wouldn't have cancelled it or made stupid name and personality changes in the dub. I hate 4Kids Entertainment.

* * *

_My life hasn't been an easy one. I was a slave to my family for years – always fighting, never loving. I never showed emotion, unless you count anger and hatred. Just ask my sister or my spirit ally._

_Well, my life became more enjoyable when I got to know Yoh, Ryu, HoroHoro, and the others that call me "friend" – I suppose I could call them the same, and perhaps I do, but deep down inside, I wonder if I really trust them. Especially after that traitor Lyserg left us._

_Oh well, if he thinks the X-Laws are the path of righteousness, let him go. That's what I told myself. It sucks, though – just as I was really starting to…trust these "friends," one of them betrays us. But he would soon be replaced by another…_

_I remember that day so clearly. My group of shaman was walking around, looking for Patch Village – that place that held the Shaman Fight that would determine the Shaman King. Then, HE appeared. First, I noticed his boots. I don't know why, but I noticed his white boots. Probably because they contrasted with his dark skin. _

_He said his name was "Chocolove." (Some of us had trouble saying his name.) I admit, he kind of freaked me out when I met him – but it's not as though I was used to seeing people like him back in China, or even Japan. But he was rather interesting, I thought. He was a shaman as well, with a jaguar spirit ally named Mic. Unfortunately, he also presumed himself a comedian._

"_Group?" Yoh said._

_Chocolove did a farce with a schoolgirl uniform. "Crepe!" He presented said dessert._

_And later, he pulled a more embarrassing prank – at my expense._

"_If I joined you, I'd play an important role!" he announced._

_I found that hard to believe, so I let him know that. "I'll believe that when…"_

"_CINDERELLA-REN!"_

_And there I was, in full female garb._

_Well, eventually, the unfunny American did join our group. He explained that his goal was to spread "the winds of laughter" (or something like that) across the world. I didn't really understand his point of view – would laughter really be enough to ease all the world's troubles?_

_As I lied down to go to sleep that night, I contemplated – as I so often do – my life up to that moment. So much death, so much violence, and then friendship… so many words to describe my experiences: Death. Anger. Hatred. Destruction. Friends. Group. Crepe._

…_Crepe?_

_For some reason, that gag with the schoolgirl dress and the pastry made me chuckle – not evilly, but happily. That "joke" wasn't even funny, so why was I laughing? I never laugh, and especially not at crap. Yet I was doing just that._

_I clapped my hand over my mouth to suppress my unnecessary amusement and slowly drifted off into deep slumber._

End of part one

* * *

As for Chocolove's jokes, they're actually his. You can find them on Shaman King Uncensored. The first one translated well, but the second joke I had to modify slightly to get the rhyme. Oh well, it's better than what FUNi will do if and when they ever get that far on the uncut DVDs…

animeninjaNIPPON


	2. Heat

By animeninjaNIPPON

_The next day, we set off in search of the elusive Patch Village. Our journey seemed endless, but I didn't mind wandering aimlessly around America – if we ran into any other natives, I could impress them with my knowledge of their language…just like Chocolove liked to show off his knowledge of Japanese. Well, to some extent, anyway – I didn't make jokes out of words that rhymed the way he did. I might confuse pronunciations every once in a while, but not on purpose._

_Chocolove's humor wasn't offensive, it was just…strange. I honestly didn't see how he could be so happy all of the time. Even Yoh and HoroHoro got depressed at times, and they were easygoing by my standards. What did he see in life that gave birth to such perpetual joy? Sure, he told us about his mentor, but I still didn't get it. Maybe I spent too much time brooding to understand the little delights of this world._

_Suddenly, I felt a hand clap onto my shoulder. I looked up – it was Chocolove. "You need to smile more often," he remarked._

"_I smile enough, thanks," I replied indignantly._

"_No, I think he's right," HoroHoro added. "You're too serious. You need to lighten up sometimes." _

"_Like Master Yoh," Ryu pointed out._

"_Yoh Asakura does things his own way," I answered, "and I do things mine."_

"_Suit yourself." HoroHoro threw his arms up in dismissal before resting on a rock. Ryu, Yoh, and their spirit allies followed in his example._

"_It sure is hot out here," Ryu groaned, cooling himself off with a makeshift paper fan. Tokagero (his spirit ally) looked equally exhausted._

"_HoroHoro, could you produce some ice?" Yoh asked._

"_A shaded forest would be nice," Chocolove chipped in, dressing up like a tree. In response to his play on rhyme scheme, I poked him in the nose with my oversoul medium, something I had gotten into the habit of doing when he got on my nerves._

"_Ow!" he shrieked, grabbing his nose. "What was that for?"_

"_Your jokes are unfunny," I replied flatly._

"_What?" he cried, as though the idea just occurred to him. "Not funny? You don't find anything funny, do you?"_

"_No, he doesn't," Ryu answered for me._

"_I'll laugh when I become the Shaman King," I remarked haughtily. _

"_You'll laugh when **I** become the Shaman King," Chocolove corrected, "when I spread the winds of laughter across the globe!"_

"_YOU making ME laugh?" I chuckled softly at this idea._

_Chocolove grinned smugly. "I just did, didn't I?" _

End of part two

* * *

The ice/forest joke is mine. It also makes sense in Japanese: _koori _is Japanese for _ice,_and_ mori _is Japanese for _forest, _so it rhymes. 

animeninjaNIPPON


	3. Hanagumi

By animeninjaNIPPON

_For some strange reason, we kept on running into some guy named Hao (the person who the X-Laws were Hell-bent on stopping), who turned out to be a reincarnation from 500 years ago. I learned that from a medicine woman named Lilirara, whom my group met along the way to Patch Village. But it didn't really concern me at the time, so I didn't put much thought into it._

_On the other hand, Hao seemed to be concerned with everyone who associated with Yoh. He let us know that, in no uncertain terms, when he sent other shaman teams after us – first ZenRyo, a couple of musicians who attacked Yoh on his way to "rescue" me, then the infamous "flower group," Hanagumi._

_Of course, before Hanagumi showed up, the Lilly5 stopped to ask us for directions. Then there was some debate over a nickname for our group. Chocolove, naturally, suggested that we name it after him. That was just ridiculous… "The Chocoloves"? Almost as bad as the nickname the Lilly5 gave us, "the Yo-Yos…"_

_We continued our journey, but Yoh got lost._

"_You don't even know which direction is which?" HoroHoro cried._

"_Heh…" Chocolove had that look in his eyes again – the one that showed he was going to attempt comedy. I immediately put a stop to that. "Argh! I haven't said anything yet!"_

"_Sorry. I figured you were going to do some stupid gag, so I acted early." His humor annoyed me, even though it sometimes made me express amusement. At first I thought laughing at that crepe nonsense was just a fluke, but some of his other jokes were beginning to crack me as well. I couldn't let him know that – after all, it would only be three times worse to encourage him._

_Not that he needed my encouragement. He made some joke about soccer anyway, so I attacked him again. I didn't find it funny at that moment, but I had a bad feeling it might make me laugh later._

_Soon, Hanagumi came forward, with their black clothes and their doll oversouls. Once they introduced themselves as Hao's allies, their group and mine got into a fight. They were much stronger than I thought they would be, but at least battling them got my mind off of other things for a while. Then Anna intervened, sending Hanagumi back to Hao. Along with her were some other people, including my sister, Jun. From that moment on, things became slightly more complicated._

End of part three

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My life is so difficult… I'm having so much difficulty keeping this fic in chronological order. I have some later chapters planned out to the finest detail, but still others (like this one) have me baffled… But I NEVER leave a fanfic unfinished, if I can help it. Credits for this chappie go to SKU and Oversoul for their original scripts, Chocolove jokes, etc.

animeninjaNIPPON


	4. Phrases

By animeninjaNIPPON

"_Jun! What are you doing here?" I demanded._

"_I'm here to cheer you on," she replied._

_Well, at least it was her. She was the only member of my family that I didn't hate with a passion, as far as I could figure. But still…_

_With or without her company, we still needed to find Patch Village. All we had to go by were some clues from the Seminoa warriors, but those didn't seem to help. And to make matters worse, Chocolove was in charge of information. Fortunately, Manta knew what to do._

"_On this Internet Digital Manjien," he told us, showing us his portable computer, "thousands of new pieces of information are uploaded every day!"_

"_Apple roads?" I had no idea what he was talking about._

"_AAAUGH! I was just going to say that!" Chocolove whined._

_Damn! First, he makes me smile in secret with his asinine wisecracks, then his irritating humor rubs off on me._

"_Let's not ask," Manta sighed. He proceeded to explain how the Digital Manjien worked. In the meantime, I was on edge about everyone being there around me ( Jun in particular), acting as though I couldn't take care of things myself. Yoh didn't mind when Anna was around, or so he said, but he didn't understand because he didn't have siblings._

"_Really?" Yoh asked when I told him that._

"_Ren," HoroHoro spoke up, "having someone around who's concerned about you close by is a good thing."_

"_You don't like the idea of everyone seeing you as 'being worried over,' right?" Anna added. "You're completely transparent."_

"_That's just dumb!" I shot back. What did she – _

"_BANANA!"_

_Who else but Chocolove would interrupt a serious discussion with a stupid joke? "What's wrong?" he continued. "Don't hold back, come on and laugh!"_

_I had no intention of doing such a thing. "You did surprise me, but…this is not a conversation that requires jokes that aren't even funny!" I didn't like where the previous topic was headed anyway, but it was the principle of the thing. "Your overly-simple puns…How can you even SAY them! You annoying little – "_

"_Be quiet for a moment!" Manta interrupted harshly._

"_Stay out of my way!" I continued speaking to Chocolove. "No matter how much I think about your jokes, they aren't funny!" Nevertheless, they got to me. I have no idea why. "It'd be wise for you to think twice about them before saying anything!"_

_No matter what I said, I just couldn't discourage him. "If this slips off again, Ren-kun will die!"_

"_LIKE I SAID!" Manta restated._

_Fat load of good his concentration did…he didn't find anything. "So your thousands of apple roads were useless, too. No matches were found."_

"_It's UPLOADS," Manta corrected._

_Whatever, I thought – it didn't work. Screw those meaningless computer phrases. We were once again stuck on our search for Patch Village, and there I was surrounded by people who claimed to be concerned about me – and then there was Chocolove, who didn't look as if he was bothered by anything._

End of part four

* * *

Once again, I credit Oversoul and SKU for the Choco jokes. I don't have the original Japanese translation of the second joke, so I left it as the fansub scripts had it…oh well, I thought it was kinda funny as is.

animeninjaNIPPON


	5. Twins

By animeninjaNIPPON

_Hanagumi came back, but that was nothing compared to the events that took place when Mikihisa showed up. It was he who revealed the ugly truth – that Hao and Yoh were actually twins._

_He then proceeded to tell us the whole story – originally, the Asakuras had planned to kill both babies since there was no clue as to which one was the incarnation of Hao. Fortunately for the sake of their son (but not necessarily the world), Hao's Spirit of Fire came for the baby Hao and took him away, revealing the true Asakura child. However, Mikihisa was injured during this time._

"_And that's the story of how I got my mask," he concluded._

"_That's not what we asked about!" HoroHoro complained._

_Mikihisa appeared to be making light of the situation. That's what I expected from Chocolove. Conversely, Chocolove was actually taking this very seriously…_

"_Um, can you all hold on a second?" he said warily._

"_Huh?" HoroHoro asked._

_  
"Don't you think you're all taking this too lightly?"  
_

"_Eh?" Ryu asked. "What do you mean by that?"  
_

"_As for me, I've got no plans to stick around with Hao's brother."_

_There he was, another traitor. I should have known better than to think he'd stick around long. Maybe he would go join Lyserg and the X-Laws. And for all I cared at that moment, he could. What business did I have trying to convince him otherwise? Ryu and HoroHoro tried to talk sense into him, to no avail._

"_Don't you see?" Chocolove explained. "'Twins' means that Yoh is a part of Hao."_

"_You idiot!" HoroHoro objected. "They have different bodies, meaning they're different people!"_

"_That only means they were born separately."_

"_That means Master is Master anyway," Ryu said._

"_Not quite."_

"_Eh?" Ryu was as confused with Chocolove's statement as I was with his sudden change of attitude._

"_In the beginning, they were one," Chocolove explained further. "That's why Hao said he'd come back to get Yoh. That's what an 'other half' is. In other words, Yoh is Hao!"_

"_Damn it!" Ryu shouted. "Don't make up such stupid theories!"_

_I didn't say anything during this time. I didn't really know what to think – first, there was the shock of finding out the truth about Yoh and Hao, but in addition to that was my shock at seeing Chocolove take something so seriously (for once). To see that self-proclaimed comedian – who even tried the patience of Yoh – get so upset really got to me for some reason. Maybe it was because he was even convincing Yoh himself that Yoh and Hao were one in the same, but more likely, because his solemnity was getting ME to think – to think that there might be more to Chocolove than he let on. Maybe his comedic act was just that – an act. _

_My thoughts were once again interrupted by an impending battle. The X-Laws were back._

"_We haven't come to fight," Lyserg assured us. "Jeanne-sama needs your power."_

End of part five


	6. Resistance

By animeninjaNIPPON

"_Who is this 'Jeanne' you're talking about?" I demanded._

"_The one who leads us toward justice," Lyserg replied as if he had been brainwashed into saying so._

"_Man, you really ARE an X-Law," HoroHoro commented._

"_If you meet Jeanne-sama, you too will understand her greatness," Lyserg continued. "Her closeness to God…makes her truly worthy of bringing us to salvation."_

"_Sure sounds like a fraud to me," I remarked. Lyserg merely went on about how "Jeanne-sama" could save our souls if we assisted her and the X-Laws. But I'd be damned if I was going to be tricked into believing their "atonement" nonsense. Let Chocolove join the X-Laws, if anyone were to…_

_Chocolove. He made no attempt to side with the likes of them, and there I was thinking that was what he wanted. Maybe he was all talk. Or maybe he just didn't buy into their crap. Or maybe something held him back – _

_I suddenly caught him staring back at me, not even realizing that I'd been looking at him first. I felt my face get hot from slight embarrassment and turned away just as our eyes met._

_Lyserg just continued his spiel. "The only thing that can destroy Hao is Jeanne-sama's Gate of Babylon."_

"_You're certainly confident," I replied, trying to keep my focus entirely on Lyserg and his speech. He told us, in no uncertain terms, that if we didn't help Jeanne we would be no better than Hao. And if we were like Hao, the X-Laws wouldn't be able to let us get away._

"_I don't see you having the same personality as Hao," Lyserg said to Yoh, "but it can't be helped that you're his other half."_

"_Yeah, someone said something like that to me a little while ago," Yoh stated calmly. "Like you said, it's possible that I'm Hao. I don't get it, but I was born that way so there's nothing I can do." Yoh smiled slightly. "But, I am me."_

"'_I am me'?" Lyserg repeated, confused by Yoh's philosophy. "What kind of reasoning is that?"_

"_So it comes to this, Lyserg," Yoh sighed. "If we're gonna fight, let's have a nice battle."_

"_What do you mean, 'nice battle'…" HoroHoro said._

"_You'll need more time, right Master?" Ryu asked, preparing for battle alongside Tokageroh._

"_Are you sure?" Yoh noted Ryu's readiness to fight. "If you stay with me, you probably won't ever be able to relax."_

"_Hmph." Bason and I got ready to join the fray. "It beats being bored."_

_Lyserg and Marco chastised us for our "foolishness." All of a sudden, Chocolove started fighting – on our side. I don't know what made him change his mind, but I was relieved that he didn't follow Lyserg's example. Together, the four of us managed to buy enough time for Yoh to reach the Nidanbaukai – the second-level medium state. Merely seeing this was enough to make Marco and them temporarily back off, though._

_Later on, Anna explained the Nidanbaukai. I was impressed by it, and secretly I knew if I wanted to become the Shaman King, I'd have to learn how to control power like that. But the issue at heart was Chocolove – he could have left, but he was inclined to stay… Did what Yoh said really have that big of an impact on him? I looked at him again, this time consciously. He smiled at me, as if to tell a joke, but then turned away at the last minute._

End of part six


	7. Revenge

By animeninjaNIPPON

_As the days went by, and we finally made it to Patch Village, I was either too busy or too distracted to really concentrate on my inner dilemmas. But one day, as I was arguing with HoroHoro and Chocolove over the name I chose for my Shaman Team (had I left it up to my teammates, we would have ended up as "the Chocoloves" or something equally stupid), my past caught up with me in an unexpected way._

"_The Tao family betrayed us…" the kid said._

_That's right – kids – two of them, in fact, claiming that they had been betrayed by my family and damning my sister to Hell for it. I wasn't about to take crap, so I prepared to fight._

"_Wait…Ren…" Yoh called. I told him to step back, but he tried to persuade me to hear the kids out._

"_It's not your business!" I snapped, and those disputatious children responded to my presence by telling me to go to Hell._

"_Stop it!"_

_I looked up. It was Gei Yin. She was an assassin for the Tao family at one point, but now, she explained, she had no more connection to the Taos._

"_We devoted ourselves to making the Tao family great," Gei Yin said angrily. "But they did not help themselves. They abandoned their honor. The main culprit is you, Tao Ren!"_

"_What are you saying?" I demanded._

"_You, as the successor of the Tao family…" She prattled on._

_So according to her, I turned my back on my responsibility and ruined the lives of those who devoted themselves to my family. All because I didn't want to be like my father… But that was not the worst of it. As it turned out, those three made up Team Noroshi, which Team the Ren was going to fight next._

_That night, I stood and gazed at the stars. They always seemed to stay strong, much stronger than humans… And always wise…_

"_Young Master," Bason started._

"_The stars are guiding me."_

"_Huh?"_

"_I will win no matter whom I encounter." I turned to Bason. "I might require a lot of your help tomorrow."_

"_Yes," my spirit ally agreed._

_The next day, at the time of our scheduled fight, I told my teammates to take it easy – this battle concerned me, not them._

_Kalim announced the beginning of the fight, and I literally jumped into battle. I won't go into details, but I wasn't doing as well as I should have been. I thought about what they had said about my betrayal, but it was they who were stupid enough to trust my father. But I was determined, and I kept on defending, not backing down for a second. However, neither were they._

_I dared them to fight with their full power. I wanted to feel the pains that they themselves were feeling. And finally, I swore to them… I swore upon Houraiken, the Tao Family Sword, that I would find a way to compensate them when I became the Shaman King. And I meant it – but I still had a long way to go…_

End of part seven

* * *

Sorry for this chapter – I just had to get into Ren's head a little more. I will get to the romance soon; don't worry!

animeninjaNIPPON


	8. Happy

By animeninjaNIPPON

_Only time would tell if I had settings right for those loyal to my family. But I had yet to set things right with my mind – along with the pressures of training, I had the subtle curse of Chocolove's humor stuck in my mind. Even now – who knows how long it had been since we met – I had to suppress smiles and such when the memories of his unfunny jokes came to mind. So I tried even harder not to think – I trained harder, I meditated on other things – I even tried listening to Horo, but the ice shaman just didn't have those same idiosyncrasies that brought Chocolove to my attention. Then eventually his sister came, and Horo was busy showing her around, and I spent the days doing other distracting things._

_On one such day, I was absent-mindedly flipping through a Japanese-language edition of "Patch Cooking: Volume 2" that Manta left on a table. Finding little interest in the recipes, I put the book down, only to come face-to-face with Chocolove. "AAH!" I jumped back slightly, knocking over a potted cactus. "What do you think you're doing?"_

_"You seem depressed," he replied. "Want me to do my comic routine for you?"_

_"No," I muttered, stooping over to pick up the desert plant. "And I'm not 'depressed.' I'm acting no differently than I do every day." I scooped some spilled dirt back into the pot._

_He knelt beside me and put some more of the soil back into its container. "Well, you seem depressed every day. You should smile more often."_

_"Well, what about you?" I retorted. "You seem ecstatic every day. Nothing can be that wonderful."_

_Chocolove dropped his handful of dirt. "I'm not always happy."_

_"Why do you want me to be happy anyway? Why is it so important that I should smile?"_

_He stood up, and, as if stating the obvious, said, "It is my duty as future Shaman King to spread the winds of laughter across the world. Besides, you're my friend, and I want my friends to be happy."_

_"Nobody's happy all the time." I swept the rest of the dirt to the side and hoped that Silva wouldn't notice it. "Not even you – you said so yourself."_

_"But WHY are you so unhappy?"_

_Did he really want to hear about the Hell I had been through? Could that idiot really understand my background of bloodshed? "It's none of your damn business," I responded, turning to leave, thinking I could perhaps watch Yoh train for his upcoming battle. A brown hand caught my shoulder._

_I lifted my head up. Chocolove had that same angry look he displayed when he found out that Hao was Yoh's twin. "I haven't had an easy life either. But you don't have to be rude to me."_

_Just who did he think he was, anyway? I slipped out from under his hand. "Do you really want to know what it's like for me?"_

_Fortunately, I was saved by an outburst by Silva. "Who moved that cactus?" he demanded, pointing to the plant I accidentally disturbed._

_Chocolove grinned like a wiseass. "Ren's practice!" He pointed at me._

_Silva eyed him weirdly, then got called away by Kalim._

_That was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard in my life. I don't know where he was going with that joke, but it didn't work – not in English, not in Japanese, not…_

_Heh. It was so asinine, it was almost amusing. Only he could take something completely out of context and find comedy in it (just like that banana joke). I started to smirk…_

_"Hey…are you smiling?"_

_I tried to ignore him._

_"You are…"_

_Oh crap. He saw me smile. And to him, that was like saying, "I find you interesting."_

_Instead of answering him, I glared at him, gave a dignified "hmph" and left him alone, hoping he'd get the message. That was my way of saying, "Don't make me smile. Don't make me laugh._

_Don't make me like you."_

End of part eight

* * *

The Chocolove joke in here kind of works in Japanese. _Sono saboten o ugoite wa dare desu ka_ means "Who moved that cactus?" and _renshuu_ means _practice_. So "cactus" and "practice" rhyme in English, and he points to Ren because of the _RENshuu_. Alas, that was really lame, but it took me literally an hour and a half to find a joke that worked to some extent in both languages, and I wanted to get more done ASAP.

- animeninjaNIPPON


	9. Nervousness

By animeninjaNIPPON

_Dear God, I must have been losing my mind. But no, I was still sane - it's not like I left to join Hao or the X-Laws, I just...couldn't get Chocolove out of my thoughts. And I don't mean merely his stupid, unfunny jokes that somehow made me laugh, I mean HIM._

_Allthough I did start to get an idea of why they often amused me: they temporarily took my mind off my troubles. But in retrospect, there were probably other things I could have used for such a vice. Of course, the jokes were only a small part of the whole issue..._

_About a day or so after that cactus incident, my teammates and I were walking through Patch Village, looking for a Chinese restaurant (at my request), when some guy in a leather jacket and ripped blue jeans bumped into Chocolove._

_"You better watch where you're going." He whirled around and pushed Chocolove into the brick wall beside us._

_"Hey, what's your problem?" HoroHoro demanded._

_The punk turned to face Horo and me. "Tell your friend to pay attention to passers-by."_

_I could feel my blood boiling, and I wanted so badly to oversoul Bason and show that jerk a thing or two. Had Yoh, Anna, Tamao, and Jun (as well as their spirit allies) not stepped in, I probably would have done something to the extent of attacking that guy while he was unarmed._

_Now I was definitely no stranger to anger or frustration, but all that time I'd spent with Yoh and them had whittled away at my feelings of hatred. They were my friends, I guess I could say, and of course I'd be upset if someone mistreated them, but the feeling I got when I saw that happen to Chocolove was more than I would have expected of myself at that point in time. It left me asking myself, "Would I have done the same thing if it was HoroHoro or Ryu?"_

_That night, I went outside and up to the roof of the place I took temporary residence in. The stars were bright and bold, as they always were on a clear night. I looked up at the moon, which was waxing, and just spent some time thinking about various things._

_"Young Master." Bason interrupted my contemplation. I slowly turned around in his general direction. "There's something bothering you, isn't there?"_

_"I'm fine," I replied._

_"Forgive me, but I sense that you are worried about something." _

_I sighed. It was futile to lie to someone as connected to me as Bason - he was, after all, my spirit ally. "Perhaps I am."_

_"What is it?"_

_"It's Chocolove." I hoped no one else could hear me. "I honestly don't know what it is, but...something draws me to him. Makes me want to...to understand him better." I could have phrased that better, but Bason seemed to know what I was talking about._

_"I see...Young Master, you've taken a liking towards him."_

_The way he said that made my stomach get this weird fluttering feeling. "What do you mean by that?"_

_"You like him."_

_Damn. It was phrased more appropriately the first way. But it didn't matter, because either way, Bason was right. That strange shaman had grown on me. And somehow, I felt he'd liked me from the start._

End of part nine


	10. Midnight

By animeninjaNIPPON

_The following night, I stole away from my sleeping quarters and went outside, completely alone, to the roof. I needed to be alone to think; away from everything. So I contemplated, as I had been doing so often, mostly about Chocolove. It wasn't so much the fact that I liked him that frustrated me, but the fact that I liked him more than I liked the others. No, I couldn't say that - I liked him...differently than the others. Whenever he was around, I got a completely different feeling than I did with the rest of my group._

_As I looked down from the roof onto the roads below, I imagined what it would be like to be Shaman King. Then I heard a slight scuffling noise behind me._

_Glancing out of my peripheral vision, I could see that it was Chocolove. I didn't see Mic or anyone near him, and suddenly, the tepid air around me got colder._

_"Ren." He said my name solemnly. I was inclined to ignore him until he went away, but he could tell that I heard him. I turned around._

_"Yoh told me...it hasn't been easy for you." He took a couple of steps forward. "He didn't tell me everything, but...I want you to know something."_

_That fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach returned, and my heart was beating like it often did when I finished a fight. His eyes met mine, and my digestive tract started cramping up. "What..."_

_He put his hands behind his back idly, like he was nervous too. "I understand you - to some extent."_

_I grew offended. "What do you know about me?"_

_He walked up to me, and I backed up against the wall that supported the upper level of the oddly shaped building. "I don't know everything about you, but if you explain it in your words..." He peered over the ledge and stared downward. "I'll tell you about myself, too."_

_What made him think I'd be interested in either option? Nevertheless, I joined him in surveying the area. "I grew up being taught to hate. To kill." I gave him a brief overview of my life with my family, almost choking on the spite as I did so. I hoped it was enough for him to understand..._

_"I grew up around a lot of death and hatred, too." He explained the gangs he'd seen and the one he was once a part of, talked of his former home, and his parents...and I began to empathize with him. "Then Orona came, and taught me about the winds of laughter...and I've seen what happiness can do for one's soul." He turned to me and placed his hand on my arm. His brown hand felt warm against my pallid skin, and when he removed it, the chill of the night hit me even harder. I looked at him, making eye contact, thinking that no one should have to suffer through a past like mine, or a past like his. But he had found something to ease that pain...and I thought, perhaps I should, too._

_"So...you want to make me laugh?" I asked._

_He smiled somewhat shyly. "Yeah. I've been trying to since we met. I mean, I try to make everyone laugh, but the others are pretty happy already. You...it always appeared that there was something troubling you. You reminded me of myself, a long time ago, so I knew..."_

_"Well, if it makes you feel better," I sighed, "I'm happy right now."_

_"Sometimes it's a good thing just to tell someone what's on your mind."_

_I hesitated for a moment, then spoke up. "...There's another thing on my mind."_

_"Really?" He looked slightly surprised. "What?"_

_There was a bit of an awkward silence as I looked down at my feet, then to his white boots, and then back up to him. "...Well...you."_

_"I figured as much..." He stepped a little closer to me, but this time, I couldn't find the strength to back away. "Ren, I followed you out here to tell you something." _

_"Didn't you already say it?"_

_"Yeah... He was clearly stalling for time, not really making any sense. "Well, I just wanted to let you know, I think you're great, and I'm glad you're my friend, even if we don't talk very much."_

_I half-smiled. "Same here." I put my hand on his shoulder as a gesture of friendship. He took three steps closer and put his arms around my waist, pulling into an embrace. Not knowing what else to do without spoiling the moment, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him back. I could feel his heart beating as rapidly as mine, and we stood there like that for... I'd say about three minutes. He pulled back slightly, still holding me, and looked at me as if he were about to say something. It was starting to get awkward, and I would have broken free and returned to my sleeping bag, but this was a completely new experience for me - I was almost paralyzed as he gazed into the depths of my soul with a mysterious stare, and I found that even looking away would break the moment. There was nothing I could do without hurting him, and I definitely didn't want to do that..._

_Chocolove slid his hand up from my waist to my ear, gently caressing it before putting his hand behind my head. He pulled my face closer to his, tilted his head slightly, and... I closed my eyes by default, but I felt his lips being pressed against mine._

_When that happened, my eyes shot open for a split second. Chocolove was kissing me. I didn't know what to make of that. I felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through my body that almost felt like spirit possession, and I pulled his body closer to mine. He broke the kiss slowly after a while, and when I reopened my eyes, he was looking at me apologetically._

_"I - I'm sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have done that."_

_"I'm not mad," I said. He turned his head away. At first I thought someone was there (God forbid Manta should see us like that, freak out, and wake all of Patch Village with his shock), but then I realized he felt he'd done something wrong._

_"I like you, Ren," he said, releasing me, "more than I should like you."_

_"I like you, too." I rubbed my arms as they were reintroduced to the cold of night. _

_"I want to be near you," he continued. "But it's not a good idea for us to be together like this - not now, anyway."_

_"Why do you say that?" Sure there were reasons, but not good ones. Both guys? Gender meant nothing to me - I was raised to believe that all mortals were worthless. Different skin color? Again, all the same to me. Proximity? Well, he lived in New York and I in China, but distance was only a minor obstacle..._

_"You and I are alike in many ways, and one of those ways is our goal - we both want to be the Shaman King. We can't let our feelings interfere with our battles. It would make us resentful in the long run."_

_He was right, in a way, but it pissed me off - why say anything at all if it would interfere with our paths?_

_Almost as though he read my mind, Chocolove responded, "But I had to let you know how I felt. I knew you liked me, and you're different than anyone else in our group... You understand me."_

_"We don't have to tell anyone about this," I mentioned. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't."_

_He smiled at me. "I'm glad I met you. After the Shaman Fight, who knows what the future will hold?"_

_I smiled back at him, preparing to go inside. "It all depends on destiny."_

_He nodded, and I walked away, feeling strangely satisfied._

_"Oh, and Ren," he called. I turned again._

_"What?"_

_He grinned deviously. "You are so damn cute when you smile."_

End of part ten


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